Review: Trip to Bountiful @ Meadow Brook Theatre

Meadow Brook Theatre Ensemble
Meadow Brook Theatre, Rochester
Through April 12, 2009
Mother Watts (Mary Benson, left) tells her new traveling companion,
Thelma (Julianne Somers, right), about her past as they ride the
bus to Bountiful in Meadow Brook Theatre’s “Trip to Bountiful.”
What if you had only one item left on the list of things you want to do [...]

Review: “Red Light Winter” – Extended to March 28th

“Red Light Winter”
by Adam Rapp
The Planet Ant Theatre, Hamtramck
Through March 21, 2009
Review by Heather Bonner
Christina: Morgan Chard
For anyone who likes to study how specific actors handle different roles, this is your show. The Planet Ant’s “Red Light Winter,” by Adam Rapp, has its male cast members trade vastly different roles each night. I [...]

Review: The Hardy Boys and the Mystery of Where Babies Come From

by Christopher Durang
Who Wants Cake?
The Ringwald Theatre, Ferndale
Through March 28, 2009
Review by Heather Bonner
Hardy Boys Joe (Tony Gross, left) and Frank (Josh
Campos, right) study up for their sleuthing duties in
“The Hardy Boys and the Mystery of Where Babies
Come From,” directed by Joe Bailey.
Want to see a show, but not sure if you can sit through [...]

Review: Purlie @ New McCree Theatre

“Purlie”
The New McCree Theatre, Flint
Through March 14, 2009
Review by Heather Bonner
Purlie Judson (Johnnie Person, left) tries to calm down Aunt Missy
(Billie Scott Lindo, center) as she excitedly hugs Lutiebelle
Jenkins (Jon’Tise Samuels, right) in the “New” McCree
Theatre’s “Purlie.”
“If they’d cut an album, I’d buy it” was the response a friend gave after seeing “Purlie” at the [...]

Review: The Bad Seed @ Ringwald Theatre

“The Bad Seed”
Who Wants Cake?
The Ringwald Theatre, Ferndale
Through March 16, 2009
Review by Heather Bonner
Rhoda Penmark (Joe Plambeck) sits on her mother
Christine’s (Jamie Warrow) lap, likely pondering
something evil in the Who Wants Cake? production
of “The Bad Seed” at the Ringwald Theatre.
“Over-the-top” may be an understatement where the Who Wants Cake? version of “The Bad Seed” by [...]

Theatre Review: Zora is My Name! @ Bonstelle Theatre

“Zora is My Name!”
Wayne State University Department of Theatre
Bonstelle Theatre, Wayne State University, Detroit
Through March 1, 2009

Between God, the Devil, Mrs. Wind, Mrs. Water, a family of 10, and a man named Sixteen because of his shoe size, it’s hard to tell which was more colorful, Zora Neale Hurston’s life or the folk lore she [...]

Review: “Colors: Dream of the Masta” @ Marlene Boll Theatre

Marlene Boll Theatre, Detroit
Through March 1, 2009
Review by Heather Bonner
Darnell Ishmel and the Ishmel Sisters
More than a play or a concert, “COLORS: Dream of the MASTA” is an “experience.” Or at least, this is how it is explained in the show’s introduction, and the description isn’t far off. Somewhere between a gospel sermon [...]

Review: Kong’s Night Out @ Meadow Brook Theatre

Meadow Brook Theatre Ensemble
Meadow Brook Theatre, Rochester
Through March 8, 2009
Review by Heather Bonner
Sig Higgenbottom (Eddie Mekka) and Sally Charmaine (Cindy Williams) run for
their lives from the paw of Kong in Meadow Brook Theatre’s “Kong’s Night Out.”
Just try to imagine a play about show business with mistaken identities, conniving rival producers, a long-retired stripper and a [...]

Review: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead @ Hilberry Theatre

Wayne State University Department of Theatre
Hilberry Theatre, Detroit
Through March 14, 2009
Review by Heather Bonner
Everything from coin flipping to performing onstage becomes an existential quandary in the Hilberry Theatre’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” by Tom Stoppard. Saturday night’s performance was a fun and pleasantly confusing mix of Shakespeare, philosophy and comedy, enhanced by fantastic [...]

Review: Radio Golf at Detroit Repertory Theatre

Detroit Repertory Theatre, Detroit
http://www.detroitreptheatre.com
Through March 22, 2009
Radio Golf: Harmond (Lucas, right) watches helplessly as Roosevelt
(Joseph, left) loses his patience with Old Joe (Cargle, center).
An intense, strongly acted, and often comical show about African American life in the 1990s, the Detroit Repertory Theatre’s Radio Golf by August Wilson, directed by Harold Hogan, is it. Their [...]